3 pt Defense.. Improved or Getting Lucky?

IATrainMaster101

IATrainMaster101

Well-Known Member
Last 3 games opponents shooting terribly vs Iowa from behind the line.

Purdue 6-20

Wisc 3-28

Minn 4-23

Honest question is why? Is a trend that we can expect to continue to any degree? if so why or why not?

After the Wisconsin game a few posters mentioned the idea that Iowa ran Wisconsin and tired them out. I found that plausable but more as a contributing factor.

Both Wisconsin and Minnesota got some pretty good open looks and continued to miss. I do think iowa is closing a little better but still not defending the perimeter exceptionally well.

I love this team and, its fight, and have contended that we have more talent than given credit for but I also have to at least partially credit these past two road wins on the 3 pt shooting and wonder can it continue?

What are some of your thoughts?
 
It's probably a combination of things to be honest. In all three Big Ten games so far, Iowa's opponents have missed some open looks from beyond the three point line. Perhaps even more than they would typically miss.

But I also think that Iowa's ability to defend the three has improved and that they aren't giving shooters as much time or as good of looks as they did in the non-conference games.

Perhaps opponents are realizing that Iowa's defending the three better so they are rushing their shots just a little bit. It could be a hundred different factors coming into play, but let's just hope it continues.
 
I'm not sure Wisconsin or Minnesota are good shooting teams (Wisconsin continued to struggle mightily with outside shooting against Michigan State; I think it is a weakness of their team right now). Iowa defended Wisky and Minny to allow the 3 point attempts but to shut down the inside stuff. Fran commented on that in his post-game interview after the Minny game.

Obviously, we have teams coming up that shoot the 3-pointer a little better (Ohio State? NW?).

What I like about this coaching staff is that they actually adjust - the defenses are changed, based on what they believe are the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. That is a big change from the Lick years. Also, the kids seem to be buying in and following instructions. Iowa's up-tempo offense and going ten deep is really wearing teams down in the second half. Fran wants to play 9 or 10 players to keep running, and to wear down other teams. In some ways, it is very similar to the Tom Davis era (and dare I say John Wooden's concepts?).

The next two months are really going to be fun as this team continues to grow....
 
Former Maryland coach, Gary Williams was in the BTN studios last night and he said Iowa was the best transition team in the league. Teams like Wisconsin hate to run and want to limit possessions. They average 44 ppg defensively and we scored 72. It could be luck that teams are in a funk but our effort is no fluke.
 
some things go your way, some don't. I seem to remember last year everyone was hitting far greater % from behind the arc then their average. Things are balancing out this year.
 
JugadorHawk said:
Former Maryland coach, Gary Williams was in the BTN studios last night and he said Iowa was the best transition team in the league. Teams like Wisconsin hate to run and want to limit possessions. They average 44 ppg defensively and we scored 72. It could be luck that teams are in a funk but our effort is no fluke.
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I though the observations of Gary Williams were incredibly interesting (Williams is a Hall-of-Fame coach who really knows what he is talking about; an amazing "get" for BTN).

If we get a few more quality players, watch out, because Fran is a terrific coach.
 
It's a combination. First off, I think teams have had off nights, especially the last two games. Allowing 18% from three is just ridiculous, and not even the best defenses consistently do that well. But the off night, combined with our transition game and improved zone defense turns an off night into a nightmare.

So, I don't think we'll continue to see three point defense at this level for the rest of the season, but I think the days of teams shooting lights out against us on a nightly basis are done, too.
 
pmchawk said:
some things go your way, some don't. I seem to remember last year everyone was hitting far greater % from behind the arc then their average. Things are balancing out this year.
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I'm hoping i's more that karma.

As I watched the past few games, I see an Iowa team that is having fun and believing in themselves and more than anything fightning like hell.

I think that maybe the combination of the bodies Iowa is throwing out there, the pace Iowa is playing, and the tenasity they are playing with are getting in their oponents heads and taking their legs our of them to some degree.

I also think Iowa dared Minny to beat them from outside in the second half and they simply couldn't. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this thing a little.
 
if you watch closely they are not shooting 3's from the line most are being taken from NBA range or better, not only that they are quick shots they are getting less time to shoot this a product of the pace of the game making them shoot before they want to shoot
 
Last night was the best I'd seen an Iowa team play defense in a long time. In years past, our zone D would leave shooters wide open in the corners. Our guards, White, and Archie did an exceptional job of trapping passes on the wing and forcing TO's leading to fast break points. Minny looked very uncomfortable in the 2nd half last night, about the only way they could score was elbow jumpers. There's been a great deal of improvement, even in the older guys.
 
herbyhawk said:
if you watch closely they are not shooting 3's from the line most are being taken from NBA range or better, not only that they are quick shots they are getting less time to shoot this a product of the pace of the game making them shoot before they want to shoot
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I agree with this post 100000% We are beginning to dictate the pace at which the game will be played...and that is HUGE in basketball...you cannot allow teams like Wisconsin, and such to get into their slow down dragout fights. That is why that transition dunk by White was huge....they came down and scored and we flipped the table in a matter of seconds.
 
Well, bassed on what McCaffrey has said repeatedly since the season started, the team has to communicate on defense and it appears they have received the memo. The team barely contested wide open 3's early in the season and seemingly incapable of recognizing shooters / identifying assignments. I also agree with others that karma plays a role in it. We faced some teams that shot lights out against us and regardless of poor defense, teams don't typically shoot 60%+ from 3.
 
We're closing out on shooters better than we were earlier in the year. That said, I doubt teams continue to shoot at that low of a pace.
 
In Minnesota's case, they are currently shooting 33.7% (76/225) as a team from behind the arc, which includes last night's game. That's good for 188th in the country.

By comparison, Iowa is 163rd at 34.3%. So I think it's safe to say that Minnesota is not a particularly good outside shooting team and it's not a surprise that they didn't shoot the ball wall from 3 last night.

That said, take out last night's 4/23 performance, and Minny's percentages goes up to 35.6%, which would be 126th. Still not very good, but we held them far enough below their average to make them drop 62 spots in that category.

Part of it is luck for both Wisconsin & Minnesota to shoot THAT poorly (and that won't continue for long), but I have to believe that some credit has to be given to Iowa's D and setting the tempo for getting teams to rush their shots a bit.

Leave teams open where they have time to shoot in the rhythm of the offense they're used to running, and I'm sure they will shoot better than 15% from behind the arc.
 
I think someone alluded to this earlier in the thread, but the Hawks are making teams work a lot harder defensively as of late, both getting up and down in transition and moving/screening in the half court. This has probably led to some of the poorer shooting over the last few games. I also applaud Fran and the team's obvious decision to get away from shooting too many threes on offense - making teams work to defend, getting the ball to the basket and getting to the foul line has helped greatly on both ends of the floor. The 3/4 press after free throws has been excellent at making teams take too long to get into their offense, which has also probably led to the lower three point percentage.

Overall, just a solid job of adjusting the player rotations, the style and mindset to fit the pieces.
 
i will say this once is luck, the second time not so much, sooner or later you have to give the defense credit rather to give the credit to luck
 
I guess I would flip the question around and ask when we were giving up all those made threes did we think our opponent was lucky? I don't think so. I think it is a combination of good defense and poor shot selection in the same way when teams were hitting 3's on us it was mainly poor defense and good shot selection. This team makes its own luck. Could have folded after the T on Basabe and didn't. Could have folded after the missed free throws at Minny and didn't. And the other teams didn't do what they needed to do to win.
 
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